Tractor-mounted wood waste breaking apparatus

ABSTRACT

A MOUNTING FRAME ATTACHES DIRECTLY TO THE CUSTOMARY C-FRAME WHICH SUPPORTS A BULLDOZER BLADE ON A TRACTOR. THE MOUNTING FRAME HAS FORWARDLY PROJECTING TINES AT ITS BOTTOM AND FIXED VERTICAL WOOD BREAKING TEETH RISE FROM THE TINES. COOPERATING VERTICALLY SWINGABLE TEETH ARRANGED BETWEEN PAIRS OF THE FIXED TEETH ARE POWERED BY OVERHEAD HYDRAULIC RAMS ON THE MOUNTING FRAME WHICH DERIVE POWER FROM THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM OF THE TRACTOR.   D R A W I N G

Mm. 13-, 1973 E. P. cox- 3.120.359

TRACTOR-IOUNTED WOOD WASTE BREAKING APPARATUS v Filed Oct. 14, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR ERNEST P. COX

' March 13, 1973" Filed Oct. 14, 1971 E.- P. COX

TRACTOR-IOUNTED WOOD. WASTE BREAKING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

INVENTOR ERN E ST F. COX

3,720,359 TRACTOR-MOUNTED WOOD WASTE BREAKING APPARATUS Ernest P. Cox, R0. Box 154, L010, Mont.

Filed Oct. 14, 1971, Ser. No. 189,170 Int. Cl. B26f 3/00 US. Cl. 225-97 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application contains some subject matter in common with prior copending application Ser. No. 170,042, filed Aug. 9, 1971, for Apparatus for Breaking Wood Waste Into Short Pieces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As detailed in said prior application, the objective of the invention is to satisfy an urgent need for some simplified, economical and reliable apparatus which will break up logging slash, fallen tree branches and other like wood debris into small pieces in the 18" to 2 foot range. This allows the broken wood waste to be scattered or buried, and in very short lengths the waste will decompose much more quickly. If the waste wood should be burned, the burning will be more rapid and cleaner than in the case of larger unbroken waste. Because of this, theinvention will have a definite impact on the environment, both in connection with keeping the air clean and in cleaning up the countryside in regions where large amounts of waste wood tend to accumulate creating an eyesore and also a fire hazard.

A further and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a wood waste breaking apparatus in the form of a convenient attachment for a bulldozer type tractor, customarily a crawler tractor but in some cases a tractor having rubber-tired wheels. The apparatus is in the form of a compact attachment unit which can be coupled directly to the tractor C-frame upon which the bulldozer blade is usually mounted.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tractor-mounted wood waste breaking apparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus, partly in section, and depicting the movement of the pivoted jaws between active and inactive positions relative to the wood waste.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 44 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, the numeral designates a waste wood breaking apparatus in its entirety which forms an attachment unit for a tractor 11, such as a crawler tractor, having a C-frame 12 for the mounting of an implement such as a bulldozer blade.

United States Patent 0 The wood breaking attachment 10 comprises a main rigid frame 13 which is generally rectangular and upright during use. This frame includes a plurality of equidistantly spaced vertical frame bars 14, integrally connected at their bottoms to a transverse horizontal base bar 15. The tops of the vertical bars 14 project somewhat forwardly as at 16 and carry a forwardly offset horizontal transverse head bar 17 rigid therewith.

The bottom of the main frame 13 attaches directly to the forward ends of the tractor C-frame 12 in the manner indicated at 18. Diagonal braces 19 forming conventional parts of the tractor structure are also coupled at 20 to the outermost vertical frame bars 14 to stabilize the wood breaking attachment 10 on the tractor.

The attachment 10 is provided at its bottom adjacent to each vertical bar 14 with a forwardly extending horizontal rigid tine 21, preferably somewhat tapered as shown. The tines 21 extend forwardly at right angles to the bars 14 for a sutiicient distance to engage under any wood waste of a character which the apparatus is capable of breaking up, such waste being pictorially indicated at 22 in the'drawings.

The unit 10 further comprises a corresponding number of fixed vertical jaws or blades 23 having sharpened curved generally vertical frontal edges 24. These fixed jaws are securely welded to the vertical bars 14 and to the tops of the horizontal tines 21 at the transverse centers of the latter. The fixed jaws 23 preferably extend for less than one-half of the height of the main frame 13 and for less than one-half the length of each tine 21, as indicated, although these proportions are not extremely critical and may be varied slightly.

Disposed midway between adjacent pairs of the fixed jaws or blades 23 are cooperating movable jaws 25 which are somewhat arcuate and are provided with sharpened longitudinal edges 26 on their lower sides. The movable jaws 25 are sturdy plate members and are three in number in the embodiment shown, being intervened between the fixed jaws 23 which are four in number. It should be understood that the apparatus can be constructed in some cases with a greater or lesser number of cooperating fixed and movable jaws. The movable jaws 25 are all pivotally mounted for vertically swinging movement on a transverse horizontal shaft 27 which spans the unit 10 transversely between the two outermost frame bars 14. Suitable support bearings 28 for the shaft 27 are provided on the sides of the fixed jaws 23 at their upper ends. The movable jaws 25 likewise have reinforcing bearing parts 29 rigidly secured to their opposite sides where they receive the shaft 27 pivotally therethrough so that adequate bearing surfaces for the movable jaws or blades will be provided.

Spacer elements 30 are provided on the shaft 27 between the several bearings 28 and 29 to maintain the proper lateral spacing of the relatively movable jaws 23 and 25.

Each movable jaw 25 is operated by an extensible and retractable hydraulic ram 31 whose top is pivotally connected at 32 to a depending lug on the horizontal bar 17. The lower or rod end of each ram 31 is similarly pivotally connected at 33 to upstanding lugs 34 welded to opposite sides of each jaw 25. The several rams 31 may be operated in unison by conventional valve controls, not shown, on the tractor 11 forming a part of the existing conventional hydraulic system of the tractor.

During operation, the rams 31 are retracted as shown in FIG. 1 and in full lines in FIG. 3 to elevate the jaws 25 to approximately horizontal positions. The tractor is moved forwardly relative to the wood waste 22 while the tines 21 are substantially on the ground, or close to the ground. The tines will slide under the wood and continued forward movement will cause the jaws 23 to contact the wood 22, as shown in FIG. 3. The rams 31 are now extended in unison to swing the jaws 25 downwardly with a scissor-like action relative to the fixed jaws 23. The curvature of the cutting edges of the two sets of jaws will prevent the escape of the wood and further closing of the movable jaws toward their fully closed positions shown in broken lines in FIG. 3 will snap or break the waste wood cleanly into short sections of no more than 18" to 2 feet in length. The cutting edges 24 and 26 of the jaws willaid in the breaking of the wood, although a true cutting or shearing of the wood is not involved. Actually, the waste wood bridges the space between fixed jaws 23 and the single movable jaw 25 between each pair of fixed jaws descends and upon engagement with the wood causes a snapping or breaking action to take place.

As a slight optional modification of the invention facilitating the breaking up of small size slash and waste wood, lateral plates or brackets 35 may be welded to the opposite sides of each movable jaw 25 to reduce the lateral spacing between the fixed and movable jaws, thus enabling them to break smaller and more flexible waste wood. This optional feature has been indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4 only for simplicity of illustration and because the feature may be omitted entirely from the apparatus.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the size, shape and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for breaking waste wood and the like comprising an upright frame adapted to be bodily mounted on an implement support frame of a tractor, plural lateral- 1y spaced forwardly extending tines on the bottom of the upright frame adapted to engage under waste wood when the upright frame is advanced toward the wood by a tractor, fixed wood breaking jaws on the upright frame adjacent to each tine and extending above each time and having frontal generally vertical arcuate edges, vertically swingable jaws disposed substantially midway between the fixed jaws and pivoted to the frame and having arcuate bottom edges, and power operating means for the swingable jaws allowing them to be swung downwardly in unison to break waste wood resting on said tines and spanning the fixed jaws transversely.

2. The structure of claim 1, and said power operating means comprising an extensible and retractable fluid pressure operated ram connected with each swingable jaw and with the top of said upright frame, the upright frame extending a substantial distance above the swingable jaws and said rams being generally vertically disposed at the front of said frame.

3. The structure of claim 1, and said upright frame including spaced top and bottom horizontal frame bars and plural laterally spaced vertical frame bars interconnecting the top and bottom bars adjacent to said tines and fixed jaws.

4. The structure of claim 3, and the fixed jaws comprising vertical plate-like members each welded at the bottom to one of said tines and welded at the back to one of said vertical frame members.

5. The structure of claim 2, and said upright frame including a top transverse horizontal frame bar which is forwardly offset from the remainder of the frame so as to overlie said tines and vertically swingable jaws, and said rams having their tops pivotally connected with said forwardly offset bar and their bottoms pivotally connected with said swingable jaws forwardly of the pivots of said jaws.

6. The structure of claim 1, and a common transverse pivot shaft for said swingable jaws on said frame near the tops of the fixed jaws.

7. The structure of claim 6, and said shaft carried by the fixed jaws, the latter having aligned openings to receive said shaft.

8. The structure of claim 1, and said fixed and swingable jaws having opposed beveled cutting edges.

9. The structure of claim 4, and said fixed jaws extending for less than one-half the distances along said tines and vertical frame members from the junctures of the tines and vertical frame members.

10. The structure of claim 9, and said fixed jaws disposed at the transverse centers of the tines and vertical frame members.

11. The structure of claim 1, and said vertically swingable jaws pivoted to the upright frame above said tines and adjacent the tops of the fixed jaws.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 954,773 4/1910 Armstrong 225104 1,577,154 3/1926 Ambler 225-404 3,665,985 5/1972 White 144 34 E FRANK T. YOST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

